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New flute tutorial - The Plains of Boyle

July 7, 2017

This is the first hornpipe I ever learned, and I heard it in New York City at a session at a place called Swift's, one of my favorite sessions at the time and one that's still going, though I haven't been back in a decade or more. I was teaching a lesson over Skype and thought it would be a good first hornpipe to work on, so I figured it would make a good YouTube lesson as well.

Hornpipes are typically more "notey" than jigs or reels but they're played slower, so it's a bit of a trade-off. This tune in particular has some cool melodic bits and repetitive phrases that allow for some creative ornamentation. Check it out on my YouTube channel here.